Previously, many granular products and some liquids have been shipped and stored in large bulk bags which may contain as much as a ton or more of material. Some of these bulk bags are flexible and when empty can be folded to a generally flat condition. One such flexible bag is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,029.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,893 discloses a bulk bag of woven fabric with four lift straps attached to selected reinforced areas of fabric at the side edges of the bag. These lift straps move independently and are difficult to align onto the tines of a lift truck. Further, when the bag is positioned onto a lifting tine the loop portion of the lift straps tends to move laterally, away from the bag. This lateral movement produces an offset loading when the bag is lifted, which tends to tear the straps from the bag.
These previous bags have only four lift straps at their side edges which provides a poor distribution of the load on the bag fabric. This results in relatively high strsses on the bag fabric that limits the load bearing capability. Thus, to carry increasingly heavier loads the previous bag design would have to be further reinforced or made from heavier fabric which increases the cost of the bag.